Allen Walker of the Welaka NFH, FL help move a gulf sturgeon

Employee Allen Walker of the Welaka National Fish Hatchery in Florida helps to move a Gulf Coast sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi), a subspecies listed as threatened by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Once harvested for their edible flesh and eggs for carviar in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Gulf sturgeons historically occurred in most rivers from the Mississippi River to the Suwannee River in Florida, and marine waters of the Gulf of Mexico to Florida Bay. National fish hatcheries such as the Welaka NFH are helping to enhance and restore declining native populations of these magnificient anadromous primitive fish. Photo taken March 6, 2001, Robert Pos, Fishery Biologist/USFWS(electronic image only) no slide available